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Recording

Japanese jazz-pop band Free Trans Ensemble posthumously release soulful live album

Source: Lauren Rogers
May 7, 2011

Before they folded in 2009, the Japanese band Free Trans Ensemble perfectly encapsulated the old and the new, combining vintage jazz harmonies with elements of R&B, soul, and even hip-hop. Their legacy, especially as professional, hard-working performers, is cemented on the posthumously released Soul Amplified Live!, documenting their 2006 show at Shibuya PLUG. The album showcases the group's engaging versatility, from the upbeat pop jazz of “Cloudy Day" to the sweaty funk of “Itaikurai" to the rap moves of “Hadakanomama." ...

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Award / Grant

Jazz Arts Group Announces Winner of 2011 Hank Marr High School Jazz Award

Source: Michael Ricci
May 7, 2011

The Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) has announced its winner of the 2011 Hank Marr High School Jazz Award. This award demonstrates excellence in musicianship and performance amongst central Ohios young students of jazz. On Saturday, April 30, 2011, three talented high school students competed at the Jazz Academy in the finals of Jazz Arts Group's 9th Annual Hank Marr High School Jazz Award. Dylan Bram, vibraphonist and senior at Dublin Jerome High School; William England, alto saxophonist and ...

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Interview

Moroccan Jazz Singer Malika Zarra Embraces Her Heritage on "Berber Taxi"

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
May 6, 2011

Whether one is improvising, composing or even just playing songs, music is a declaration of self. This is never more apparent than with singer and composer Malika Zarra. Born in Morocco and raised in France, Zarra draws upon her roots to inform her jazz by adding elements of North African chaâbi and well as traditional Moroccan styles like Berber, Gnawa, Issawa and Houara. Through it all, her sultry mezzo-soprano bounces between English, French, Berber, Moroccan dialect of Arabic and Arabic. ...

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Radio

Alice Day sings on WLRN's Evenin' Jazz on May 6

Source: The Real Tracy Fields
May 6, 2011

Miami's First Lady of Jazz, Alice Day, will perform on WLRN's nightly jazz program on Friday, May 6. Showtime is 9:32 p.m. eastern. Ms. Day, a native Miamian, spends most of each year abroad, bringing America's Music to people in Europe and Asia. But she always comes home for Mother's Day, and this year she'll spend some of her precious time stateside with the listeners of Evenin' Jazz. “This is a homecoming in more ways than one," said The Real ...

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Recording

Space Genetics, Volume 2 - Featuring Paul Scea & Eric Haltmeier

Source: Michael Ricci
May 6, 2011

Space Genetics, the experimental music duo of Paul Scea and Eric Haltmeier, are proud to announce their new release, “Volume 2." This recording evolved from an idea first explored in performance at the International Society for Improvised Music (ISIM) Conference held in Ann Arbor, Michigan in December of 2010. Unlike their musical work on “Volume 1" which was composed collaboratively by sharing musical material (played on woodwinds and electronics) via the Internet, “Volume 2" was conceived as a series of ...

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Interview

Shipp shape: Piano improv master Matthew Shipp has an ear for just about everything

Source: Michael Ricci
May 6, 2011

He might be older and wiser, but Matthew Shipp has not mellowed with age. A galvanizing force among the heirs to jazz's avant-garde movement of the 1960s, the pianist has spent the past quarter century building a vast, roiling musical universe. As an invaluable sideman and prolific bandleader, as a sometimes caustic advocate and discerning curator of Thirsty Ear Recordings' influential Blue Series documenting the work of similarly edgy musicians, he has done more than just about any other figure ...

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Interview

James Farm Takes Seed as New All-Star Jazz Band

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
May 6, 2011

Yes, many will call James Farm an all-star band. Featuring drummer Eric Harland, bassist Matt Penman, pianist Aaron Parks and saxophonist Joshua Redman, the band certainly has some of the leading lights of today's jazz scene. But to hear Harland and Parks speak about the band's origins, James Farm seems something organically grown rather than a self-conscious assembly of heavy hitters. “We're just a bunch of guys who like making music together," Parks points out to ...

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Recording

Neal Morse Announces Testimony 2 - A New 2-CD Progressive Rock Studio Album

Source: Glass Onyon PR - Keith James
May 6, 2011

Nashville, TN—Some stories are left unfinished. Sometimes the best part is what happens after the tale's end. Nearly a decade ago, Neal Morse released his landmark autobiographical progressive rock epic, Testimony. Now, he returns with an extraordinary cast of musicians to tell the rest of the story in Testimony 2. And he's saved the best for last. Picking up where he left off on Testimony, the sequel begins with Neal in the mid-'90s when his band, Spock's Beard, begins to ...

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